Parent representation
The Parental Involvement Act made changes to the arrangements for parental representation in all schools. Since August 2007 Parent Councils have been the representative body for parents.
What is a Parent Council?
Your school’s new Parent Council will be very parent-friendly – it’s a great opportunity to become more involved!
The role of the Parent Council will be to:
- support the school in its work with pupils
- represent the views of all parents
- encourage links between the school, parents, pupils, pre-school groups and the wider community
- report back to the Parent Forum.
Your school’s new Parent Council was recognised in law from August 2007, so it will have a loud voice. The school and the local authority must listen to what your Parent Council says and give it a proper response. Every school’s Parent Council will be different because it will be parents in each school who decide such things as:
- how their Council will be set up
- what it should be called
- what size it should be – eg in a very small primary school, all parents could be involved
- who should be a member of the Parent Council
- how they should be appointed
- what’s the most convenient time to hold meetings
what will be discussed at meetings – these might be topics such as school uniform, parking near the school, the school’s anti-bullying policy
How will Parent Councils be set up?
Education authorities are to let the Parent Forum of each school (ie all parents) know about the plans to form a Parent Council in the school and will ask for views. The Parent Forum can decide what the Council will be called, its functions and its constitution. Copies of the ‘Parents as Partners in their Children’s Learning Toolkit’ have been sent to all schools and contains a step-by-step guide on setting up a Parent Council.
Who can be members?
Generally, members of the Parent Council must be parents of children who attend the school and the chairperson must have a child in the school. However, the Parent Council can decide to co-opt other members from teachers and the community who will have knowledge and skills to help them.
In denominational schools, the Parent Council must invite the relevant church or denominational body to nominate a representative to be a co-opted member.
In very small schools all the parents may be part of the Parent Council. The Parent Forum will decide how members are to be selected.What is the role of the Parent Council?
The detail of what a Parent Council does will be decided by parents, but the Act lays down certain functions which can be summarised as 4 broad areas:
- supporting the school in its work with pupils
- representing the views of parents
- promoting contact between the school, parents, pupils, providers of nursery education and the community
- reporting to the Parent Forum.
Further information on the role of Parent Councils can be found in the guidance on the Act.
